Arezzo & Co Profits Up in Q4 but Down for Full Year

The Brazil-based footwear and accessories conglomerate registered full year 2020 adjusted net revenues of 1.6 billion Brazilian reais (approximately $278 million), down 4 percent from the previous year. Adjusted net income declined year on year by 38.1 percent to 87.3 million reais ($15.2 million).

Arezzo & Co offset the closure of physical stores during 2020 lockdowns by implementing several digital transformation initiatives that yielded e-commerce sales growth of 145 percent to 526 million reais ($91.6 million) for the full year.

Alexandre Birman, CEO of Arezzo & Co, explained to BoF that “we were fast to create a crisis committee and had to make decisions quickly to prepare for tough moments ahead [during the pandemic and] we created an app that allows anyone to become a sales associate using our company’s inventory and earn a commission on sales.”

He cited adjusting the supply chain, launching new products and collections more frequently and accelerating their digital strategy.

The group owns shoe brands Arezzo, Schutz, Anacapri, Alexandre Birman, Fiever, Alme and a distribution license for Vans in Brazil, and the ZZ Mall market. In October, the company purchased Reserva Group, a clothing retailer and group of apparel brands, for 715 million reais ($121.6 million). In November, Arezzo bought 75 percent of Troc, an online luxury clothing resale site.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the company registered an adjusted net income of 83.2 million reais ($14.5 million), representing 77.8 percent growth from the previous year.

“Reserva has a powerful digital presence as well, and it boosted our growth,” says Birman, adding that “the fourth quarter was the cherry on top, we grew a lot and finished the year with an amazing position.”